Nutty But Nice

The vegan dinner was a success — especially the desserts! The vegan pumpkin pie got great reviews. It was very “pumpkin-y” and you absolutely don’t miss the dairy. The peanut butter chocolate chip cookies were gone in minutes. I’ve posted that recipe before, but here are both recipes again for the benefit of my dinner guests and anyone else with a sweet tooth.

Our vegan dinner featured some of my favorite recipes, but several did feature cashew cream. It’s a vegan alternative to adding dairy to the recipes. I love how cashew cream tastes in recipes, and it’s so easy to do. Typically, it’s soaked cashews (2 hours to overnight) and water. Place them in your food processor and blend for 1-5 minutes. I usually just turn the processor on and go do something else.

My hesitation on the cashew cream is that nuts are a very rich source of calories — and fat. While nuts are healthy, they really shouldn’t be eaten every day. I learned this at the McDougall conference and it made sense after I thought about it. Typically, nuts are eaten to store up fat and prepare for winter. They really are too rich to be eaten daily.

I used to eat a package of mixed nuts (carefully branded as “NUTritious”) every day for a snack at work. It wasn’t until they discussed this at the conference that it really hit me. I definitely think the daily dose of nuts contributed to my being stuck from a weight loss perspective. So remember, once in a while is ok, but don’t do it every day.

And by the way, they feel the same way about avocados. One of the books recommends avoiding avocados altogether. I love them too much to give them up completely, but I totally get that I shouldn’t eat them daily.